I have not read "wealth of nations" myself, to verify Chomsky's opinion of Smith's work, but I have it on hold at the library and will soon.
Reading Adam Smith or Karl Marx on economics is a lot like reading Jules Verne on moon flights and submarines. They were geniuses, but genius only goes so far when you don't have that much data to work with and are predicting the future.
Think of it like physics. Just as energy is lost when it changes form, money is lost when it changes hands.
Reading Adam Smith or Karl Marx on economics is a lot like reading Jules Verne on moon flights and submarines. They were geniuses, but genius only goes so far when you don't have that much data to work with and are predicting the future.
Think of it like physics. Just as energy is lost when it changes form, money is lost when it changes hands.
You might be interested in reading about Ronald Coase, transaction costs, and The Nature of the Firm: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nature_of_the_Firm